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Fueled by the music of revolution, anger, fear, and despair, we dyed our hair or shaved our heads ... Eating acid like it was candy and chasing speed with cheap vodka, smoking truckloads of weed, all in a vain attempt to get numb and stay numb.

This is the story of a young man and a generation of angry youths who rebelled against their parents and the unfulfilled promise of the sixties. As with many self-destructive kids, Noah Levine's search for meaning led him first to punk rock, drugs, drinking, and dissatisfaction. But the search didn't end there. Having clearly seen the uselessness of drugs and violence, Noah looked for positive ways to channel his rebellion against what he saw as the lies of society. Fueled by his anger at so much injustice and suffering, Levine now uses that energy and the practice of Buddhism to awaken his natural wisdom and compassion.

While Levine comes to embrace the same spiritual tradition as his father, bestselling author Stephen Levine, he finds his most authentic expression in connecting the seemingly opposed worlds of punk and Buddhism. As Noah Levine delved deeper into Buddhism, he chose not to reject the punk scene, instead integrating the two worlds as a catalyst for transformation. Ultimately, this is an inspiring story about maturing, and how a hostile and lost generation is finally finding its footing. This provocative report takes us deep inside the punk scene and moves from anger, rebellion, and self-destruction, to health, service to others, and genuine spiritual growth.

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American Buddhist teacher, author and counselor known for his philosophical alignment with Buddhism and punk ideology. Identifies his Buddhist beliefs and practices with both Theravadan and Mahayanan traditions. Holds a masters degree in counseling psychology from CIIS. He has helped found several groups and projects including the Mind Body Awareness Project], a non-profit organization that serves incarcerated youths.

He is the founder of the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, with two centers in Los Angeles and over twenty affiliated groups in North America and Europe. (www.againstthestream.org) Noah leads Dharma and vipassana meditation retreats and workshops across the United States and Europe. An important aspect of his work is with inmates in juvenile and adult prisons where he combines meditation techniques with psychotherapy—“exploring how they can have a deeper understanding of what has happened and what they need to do in order to be free, on many levels—free from prison, free from the trauma of the past.” Noah Levine is a member of the Prison Dharma Network.

Levine’s work with inmates is fueled by his own past; as a youth he had several periods of incarceration. His first book, Dharma Punx, in large part details Levine’s teenage years filled with drugs, violence, and multiple suicide attempts - choices fueled by a rebellious nature and identification with punk rock and culture. His substance abuse started early in life - at age 6 he began smoking marijuana - and finally ended in a padded detoxification cell in juvenile prison 11 years later. It was in this cell where he hit “an emotional rock bottom” and began his vipassana practice “out of a place of extreme drug addiction and violence” While incarcerated, he saw for the first time how the practice his father taught him gave him the tools to relieve the fear and uncertainty that pervaded his life.

One notable aspect of Buddhist Dharma is the path of our choices, the actions past and present and the intention for future action – (ref. Buddhist Law of Karma). Levine’s past – addiction, incarceration, violence, initial rejection of Buddhism and meditation – are all defining characteristics of his writings and teachings. “We all sort of have a different doorway to dharma or spiritual practice. Suffering is a doorway. For me it was the suffering of addiction, violence and crime which opened me at a young age, 17 years old. I was incarcerated, looking at the rest of my life in prison and thought, ‘Maybe I will try dad’s hippie meditation bullshit.’ Suffering opened me to the possibility of trying meditation.”

In Levine’s second book, Against the Stream, released in April 2007, "he presents what he has learned about and through Buddhism". Readers will find it written in a style consistent with the "disarming, frank tone" from his first book and, also, free from the typical "Buddhist-speak" found in comparable works; Levine "clearly returns to such central ideas as impermanence and suffering, giving his thinking simplicity and consistency". The author claims that this work is for '"true spiritual revolutionaries" who are looking for both "inner and outer spiritual rebellion"'.